JP5427388B2 - Skin observation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a skin observation apparatus for enlarging and imaging a skin through an observation hole brought into contact with the skin to be observed.

The skin observation device is used as a sales promotion tool for selling an optimal skin care product according to a customer's skin at a cosmetic salon (cosmetics store) or the like.
Conventional skin observation apparatuses generally include a dome-shaped observation head having an observation hole formed at the tip, and this observation head is applied to any part of the skin to be observed, such as the cheek, temple, or under the eyes. Thus, the state of the customer's skin is enlarged and observed.

  In this case, the surface reflected light reflected from the skin surface includes information on the skin surface condition such as rough skin and texture, and the inner surface reflected light scattered inside the skin includes spots and stains. Contains information on the internal state of the skin.

For this reason, the conventional skin observation apparatus includes an illumination system including a skin surface observation light source and a subcutaneous observation light source inside the observation head, and an imaging element that captures a reflected light image from the object to be observed through the analyzer. The imaging optical system is arranged, the illumination system has a polarizer that converts the light emitted from the skin surface observation light source into a linearly polarized Nicol polarization parallel to the analyzer, and the light emitted from the subcutaneous observation light source serves as the analyzer. On the other hand, a polarizer for linearly polarized light of crossed Nicols is arranged.
Japanese Patent No. 4053653

According to this, the light emitted from any light source is reflected on the skin surface and the subcutaneous surface, and when the light is reflected on the skin surface, the polarization state is maintained, and the light reflected under the skin is scattered and the polarization state is maintained. Change.
Since the light emitted from the light source for observing the skin surface is linearly polarized with parallel Nicols with respect to the analyzer, the reflected light from the subcutaneous state where the polarization state changes is blocked by the analyzer, and the polarization state is maintained. Since the reflected light from the surface of the skin that has been applied passes through the analyzer and is imaged, the surface of the skin, such as rough skin and texture (texture), is mainly reflected in the image.
On the other hand, since the light emitted from the subcutaneous observation light source is linearly polarized with orthogonal Nicols with respect to the analyzer, the reflected light from the skin surface where the polarization state is maintained is blocked by the analyzer, and the polarization state Since the reflected light from under the skin where the angle changes has passed through the analyzer and is imaged, the internal state of the skin, such as spots and kusumi, is mainly reflected in the image.

  By the way, when taking a still image of the skin surface and a still image of the skin in this way, conventionally, when the composition is determined while viewing the monitor image with the lighting switch of the skin surface observation light source turned on, the shutter is first set. By capturing a still image of the skin surface by pressing the button, then turning off the skin surface observation light source, and pressing the shutter button again when the composition is determined while viewing the monitor image with the light switch of the subcutaneous observation light source turned on A subcutaneous still image must be captured, and the operation becomes complicated.

In other words, conventionally, each time an image is captured, it is necessary to perform at least two actions of pressing the shutter button after determining the composition while turning on the light source switch and viewing the image output from the image sensor. It was common.
For this reason, there is a possibility that the skin observation device applied to the skin may move while the button operation is repeated. For example, even if it is necessary to compare the skin surface still image and the subcutaneous still image, the imaging position is different. Therefore, there is a problem that the images cannot be compared with each other.

In addition, the illumination light applied to the skin is polarized to enhance the rough skin and texture (texture), and to highlight spots and spots, so each image is exposed to natural light. The skin condition looks different from the observed skin condition.
Therefore, when a skin observation device is connected to a display device and turned on, a customer who is suddenly shown such an image can show an image with a skin quality that is different from his / her skin. As a result, there is a case where it is distrustful whether or not it is his skin, and there is a problem that the salesperson takes time for the explanation.

For this reason, it is conceivable to separately install a white light source without a polarizer on the illumination optical path, and in this way, it is possible to directly irradiate the skin with light that is close to natural light that is not polarized. it can.
However, when such a non-polarized light source is separately provided, there are problems that the number of parts increases, the observation head becomes large, and the manufacturing cost and the labor of manufacturing increase.
Furthermore, since it is necessary to arrange a light source in a narrow observation head, the light source must be a white point light source. In this case, the point light source itself is reflected on the skin surface, and a bright spot appears or a glare occurs on the skin surface. Although noise such as stickiness and halation is generated, the skin quality itself is the same as that observed under natural light, but there is a problem that a high-quality image cannot be obtained due to the noise.

  Therefore, the present invention firstly enables the skin surface observation light source and the subcutaneous observation light source to be individually lit by one action without performing troublesome button operations, and secondly, non- A technical problem is to display an image similar to that observed in natural light without installing a polarizing light source.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention includes an illumination system in which an observation hole is formed in an observation head that is brought into contact with the skin to be observed, and a skin surface observation light source and a subcutaneous observation light source are provided inside the observation hole, An imaging optical system including an imaging device that captures a reflected light image from an object to be observed through an analyzer is arranged, and the illumination system has a Nicole straight line parallel to the analyzer with light emitted from a skin surface observation light source. In the skin observation apparatus in which a polarizer that makes polarized light and a polarizer that makes light irradiated from a subcutaneous observation light source linearly polarized light that is orthogonal to the analyzer are arranged on each illumination light path,
A control device that controls the lighting timing of each illumination light source and the image capture timing of the image sensor, the control device is two types of linearly polarized light whose vibration directions are parallel Nicols and orthogonal Nicols perpendicular to the analyzer Three illumination modes are preset: preview illumination mode that simultaneously illuminates the skin, skin surface illumination mode that illuminates the analyzer with parallel Nicols linearly polarized light, and subcutaneous illumination mode that illuminates the analyzer with orthogonal Nicols linearly polarized light The illumination mode switching means for switching in the order, and when the trigger signal is generated by pressing the trigger switch in the preview illumination mode state, after the still image of the preview illumination mode is captured, the illumination mode switching means while switching the illumination mode, sequentially irradiating the vibration direction different linear polarization So it is characterized in that a still image continuous capturing means for capturing a still image of the illumination mode continuously.

According to the present invention, when a trigger signal is output by pressing a predetermined trigger switch in a state where the observation head is in contact with the skin, in the lighting order set in the illumination order setting means, for example, skin surface observation Illumination is sequentially performed in the preview illumination mode in which the light source and the subcutaneous observation light source are simultaneously turned on, the skin surface illumination mode in which only the skin surface observation light source is lit, and the subcutaneous illumination mode in which only the subcutaneous observation light source is lit.
At this time, when the still image continuous capturing unit finishes capturing the still image in each illumination mode, the still image is captured again by switching to the next illumination mode.
That is, since one still image in each illumination mode is continuously captured by one action of pressing the trigger switch, there is no possibility that the illumination head moves by performing a button operation during imaging.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a moving image picked up by the image pickup device is output under illumination in the preview illumination mode before a trigger signal for starting the still image continuous capturing means is issued.
In the preview illumination mode, the skin surface observation light source and the subcutaneous observation light source are turned on at the same time, so the captured still image is mainly based on the skin surface image in which the undulations and fine wrinkles on the skin surface are emphasized, and the skin color base. It becomes an image on which the subcutaneous still image is superimposed.
In this case, a bright spot generated when light that is not polarized by a white point light source is used as illumination light is reflected, and glare or halation is not generated on the skin surface, and is observed under natural light. A skin quality image very close to the skin quality was obtained.

The skin observation apparatus of this example achieves the object of enabling each image to be continuously captured by individually lighting the skin surface observation light source and the subcutaneous observation light source in one action without performing troublesome button operations. In addition, an observation hole is formed in the observation head that comes into contact with the skin to be observed, and an illumination system including a skin surface observation light source and a subcutaneous observation light source inside the observation hole, and a reflected light image from the observation object are detected. An imaging optical system having an imaging device that takes in through photons is disposed, and the illumination system includes a polarizer that converts light emitted from the skin surface observation light source into linear Nicol polarization that is parallel to the analyzer, and a subcutaneous observation light source Polarizers that convert the light emitted from the linearly polarized light of the crossed Nicols with respect to the analyzer are arranged on the respective illumination light paths, and control the lighting timing of each illumination light source and the image capture timing by the image sensor. A control device, the control device, preview illumination mode simultaneously irradiated with two kinds of linearly polarized light vibrating directions are orthogonal in a parallel Nicols and crossed Nicols with respect to the analyzer, linearly polarized light parallel Nicol respect analyzer Illumination mode switching means for switching three illumination modes in a preset order: a skin surface illumination mode for irradiating the skin and a subcutaneous illumination mode for irradiating the analyzer with linear Nicols linearly polarized light; and triggering in the state of the preview illumination mode When a trigger signal is issued by pressing the switch , after taking a still image of the preview illumination mode, while switching the illumination mode by the illumination mode switching means , sequentially irradiate linearly polarized light with different vibration directions, a still image of the illumination mode and a still image continuous capturing means continuously captures.

  1 is an explanatory view showing an example of a skin observation apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an arrangement state of light sources, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing each illumination mode, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an image processing procedure. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another embodiment.

The skin observation apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 has an observation hole 3 formed in an observation head 2 to be brought into contact with the skin to be observed, and an illumination system provided with a skin surface observation light source 4P and a subcutaneous observation light source 4S inside thereof. 5 and an image pickup optical system 8 including an image pickup element 7 that takes in a reflected light image from the object to be observed through the analyzer 6A.
The illumination system 5 includes a polarizer 6P that converts light emitted from the skin surface observation light source 4P into parallel Nicols linearly polarized light with respect to the analyzer 6A, and light emitted from the subcutaneous observation light source 4S to the analyzer 6A. Thus, a polarizer 6 </ b> S that converts the crossed Nicols into linearly polarized light is disposed on the illumination optical path L from the light sources 4 </ b> P and 4 </ b> S to the observation hole 3.

In the imaging optical system 8, an analyzer 6A and an imaging lens 9 are arranged on an imaging optical axis X extending from the observation hole 3 to the imaging element 7, and the imaging element 7 is a solid-state imaging such as a CCD or C-MOS. Elements are arranged.
The illumination system 5 has a configuration in which light emitting elements such as LEDs are annularly arranged around the imaging optical axis X as the skin surface observation light source 4P and the subcutaneous observation light source 4S.

  In addition, the light sources 4P and 4S of the illumination system 5 and the image sensor 7 of the imaging optical system 8 are connected to the control device 10 disposed in the casing 1C of the skin observation device 1, and each light source 4P is connected by the control device 10. The lighting timing of 4S and the image capture timing by the image sensor 7 are controlled, and the output of the control device is connected to the display 11 so that the image captured by the image sensor 7 is displayed on the display 11 in real time. It is supposed to be.

The control device 10 has an illumination mode switching means 12 for switching the three illumination modes of the preview illumination mode M ₁ , the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ and the subcutaneous illumination mode M _{3 in} a preset order, and a predetermined trigger signal is issued. A still image continuous capturing means 13 for continuously capturing still images in each illumination mode while switching the illumination mode by the illumination mode switching means 12 is provided.

In Preview illumination mode M _1, since simultaneously lighting the skin surface observation light source 4P and subcutaneous observation light source 4S of the illumination system 5 as shown in FIG. 3 (a), is mainly emphasized undulations and fine wrinkles of the skin surface An image obtained by superimposing a skin surface image and a subcutaneous still image mainly serving as a skin color base is observed.
Since the light emitted from each of the light sources 4P and 4S passes through the parallel Nicol polarizer 6P and the orthogonal Nicol polarizer 6S to the analyzer 6A and is irradiated to the skin, the vibration directions are orthogonal 2 It is irradiated with various types of polarized light, and no bright spots appear when the light that is not polarized by the white point light source is used as illumination light, and no glare or halation on the skin surface is observed. An image with a skin quality very close to the skin quality observed in (1) can be obtained.

In skin surface illumination mode M _2, only the skin surface observation light source 4P as shown in FIG. 3 (b) is illuminated, because it is irradiated to the skin passes through the polarizer 6P parallel Nicol respect analyzer 6A, The reflected light from the skin surface in which the polarization state is maintained passes through the analyzer 6A, and the reflected light from the subcutaneous state where the polarization state has changed is blocked by the analyzer 6A.
As a result, the undulation and fine wrinkles on the skin surface are mainly emphasized, and a skin surface image in which the subcutaneous pigment information is lost is observed.

Furthermore, the subcutaneous illumination mode M _3, only subcutaneous observation light source 4S as shown in FIG. 3 (c) is illuminated, because it is irradiated to the skin passes through the polarizer 6S crossed Nicols with respect to the analyzer 6A, Reflected light from the skin surface in which the polarization state is maintained is blocked by the analyzer 6A, and only reflected light from the subcutaneous state where the polarization state has changed passes through the analyzer 6A.
As a result, only the subcutaneous pigment information is emphasized, and a subcutaneous image in which the surface information such as undulations and fine wrinkles on the skin surface is lost is observed, not only on the skin surface, but also on the skin surface. Even pigmentation that does not appear is projected.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure by the control device 10.
Processing a main switch (not shown) is turned on to start running, is first turned simultaneously the skin surface observation light source 4P and subcutaneous observation light source 4S of the illumination system 5 in step STP1, it is illuminated by the preview illumination mode M _1, In step STP2, the imaging optical system 8 is turned on, and the moving image output from the imaging element 7 is displayed on the display 11.
In this state, when the observation head 2 of the skin observation device 1 is applied to the customer's skin, the display 11 displays skin with a color very close to that observed when the customer's skin is observed under natural light.
Then, in step STP3, the composition is determined while moving the observation head 2 until a trigger switch (not shown) that starts taking in a still image is pressed.
When the trigger switch is pressed steps STP4 and F proceeds, first, the preview still image is captured by the preview illumination mode M _1, is recorded in the preview image recording area R ₁ of the memory 14.
Then, while the skin surface observation light source 4P is turned on in step STP5, subcutaneous observation light source 4S is turned off, is switched to the skin surface illumination mode M _2, the skin surface still image is captured at step STP6, skin memory 14 It is recorded on the surface still image recording region R _2.
Moreover, the skin surface observation light source 4P is turned off at step STP7, subcutaneous observation light source 4S is relight, is switched to subcutaneous illumination mode M _3, subcutaneously still image is captured in step STP8, memory 14 subcutaneous still image It is recorded in a recording area _{R 3.}
If the main switch is turned off in step STP9, the process is terminated. If not turned off, the process returns to step STP1.

  Here, the processing of step STP1, step STP5, and step STP7 is the illumination mode switching means 12, the processing of step STP4, step STP6, and step STP8 is the stationary continuous imaging means 13, and the processing of step STP2 is the moving image output means.

The above is one configuration example of the present invention, and the operation thereof will be described next.
Press the main switch of the skin observation device 1, place the observation hole 3 of the observation head 2 on the skin of the customer, display an enlarged image of the skin on the display, find the part to be imaged while looking at this, determine the composition, trigger switch pressing a preview still image according to preview the lighting mode M _1, and the skin surface still image by the skin surface illumination mode M _2, subcutaneously still images by subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ is continuously imaged.
During this time, there is no need for any operation, and it is possible to capture continuous images in a short time by automatically switching the illumination, so a plurality of illumination modes with different skin modes are applied to the same imaging location. It is very convenient to compare still images.

In the above description, the case has been described where a still image is captured with one illumination course in which the three illumination modes of the preview illumination mode M ₁ , the skin surface illumination mode M ₂ and the subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ are lit in this order. In addition to this lighting course, a lighting course in which the lighting order of any two types of lighting modes is set may be registered so that the lighting course can be selected at any time.

In this case, for example, the illumination course C ₁ for causing the illumination mode switching means 12 to turn on the three illumination modes in this order of the preview illumination mode M ₁ , the skin surface illumination mode M _2, and the subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ , and the preview illumination mode M ₁ and skin surface illumination mode M ₂ and the illuminating courses C ₂ to light in this order, an illumination courses C ₃ are registered to light the preview illumination mode M ₁ and subcutaneous illumination mode M ₃ in this order.
In advance, the lighting courses C _{1 to} C _{3 to} which the image is captured are selected and set by a predetermined switch (not shown).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure. Note that the same steps as those in the flowchart of FIG.
When the trigger switch is pressed in step STP3, the illumination course is read in step STP3A.
In this case, if the illumination Course _{C 1} is selected, similarly to Example 1, steps STP4~ step STP9 is performed, the preview illumination mode _{M 1,} the skin surface illumination mode _{M 2} and subcutaneous illumination mode _{M 3} Still images are captured in three different lighting modes.

If illumination Course _{C 2} is selected, at step STP10~ step STP12, the still image in the two kinds of illumination modes of the preview illumination mode _{M 1} and skin surface illumination mode _{M 2} it is captured.
Specifically, the step STP10 and F proceeds, first, the preview still image is captured by the preview illumination mode M _1, is recorded in the preview image recording area R ₁ of the memory 14.
Then, while the skin surface observation light source 4P is turned on in step STP11, subcutaneous observation light source 4S is turned off, is switched to the skin surface illumination mode M _2, the skin surface still image is captured at step STP12, the skin of the memory 14 It is recorded on the surface still image recording region R _2.

If the selected lighting course _{C 3,} at step STP13~ step STP15, the still image in the two kinds of illumination modes of the preview illumination mode _{M 1} and subcutaneous illumination mode _{M 3} is taken.
Specifically, the step STP13 and F proceeds, first, the preview still image is captured by the preview illumination mode M _1, is recorded in the preview image recording area R ₁ of the memory 14.
Then, while subcutaneous observation light source 4S is turned on in step STP 14, is turned off the skin surface observation light source 4P, is switched to subcutaneous illumination mode M _3, subcutaneously still image is captured at step STP15, the memory 14 subcutaneous still image It is recorded in a recording area _{R 3.}

In this example, the processing of steps STP1, 5, 7, 11, 14 is the illumination mode switching means 12, and the processing of steps STP4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15 is the stationary continuous imaging means 13, step. The processing of STP2 is a moving image output means.
Further, in this embodiment, it is selected which of the illumination Course C ₁ -C _3, by simply pressing the trigger switch, the still image under illumination modes respectively can be continuously imaged.

  As described above, the present invention can be applied to the use of continuously capturing still images in a plurality of illumination modes when observing a magnified skin.

Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the skin observation apparatus which concerns on this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the arrangement | sequence state of a light source. Explanatory drawing which shows each illumination mode. The flowchart which shows an image processing procedure. The flowchart which shows other embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 Skin observation device
2 Observation head
3 Observation hole
4P Skin surface observation light source
4S Subcutaneous observation light source 5 Illumination system 6A Analyzer 6P Polarizer 6S Polarizer 7 Imaging element 8 Imaging optical system L Illumination optical path X Imaging optical axis 10 Control device M ₁ Preview illumination mode M ₂ Skin surface illumination mode M ₃ Subcutaneous illumination mode 12 Illumination mode switching means 13 Still image continuous capturing means

Claims (3)

An observation hole is formed in the observation head that is brought into contact with the skin to be observed, and an illumination system including a skin surface observation light source and a subcutaneous observation light source is provided inside the observation head, and a reflected light image from the observation object is passed through the analyzer. An imaging optical system having an image sensor to be captured is arranged,
The illumination system includes a polarizer that converts light emitted from the skin surface observation light source into linear Nicols linearly polarized light with respect to the analyzer, and light emitted from the subcutaneous observation light source that is orthogonal Nicols straight with respect to the analyzer. In the skin observation device in which polarizers to be polarized are arranged on each illumination optical path,
A control device for controlling the lighting timing of each illumination light source and the image capture timing by the image sensor;
The control device includes a preview illumination mode for simultaneously irradiating the analyzer with two kinds of linearly polarized light whose vibration directions are orthogonal to each other in parallel Nicols and orthogonal Nicols, and a skin surface for irradiating the analyzer with linear Nicols linearly polarized light. Illumination mode switching means for switching the illumination mode and the three illumination modes of the subcutaneous illumination mode for irradiating the analyzer with linearly polarized light of orthogonal Nicols in a preset order;
When a trigger signal is issued by pressing the trigger switch in the preview illumination mode, after the still image of the preview illumination mode is captured, the illumination mode is switched by the illumination mode switching means, and the vibration directions are different. Still image continuous capturing means that sequentially irradiates linearly polarized light and continuously captures still images of each illumination mode ;
A skin observation device characterized by comprising:   The control device includes moving image output means for outputting a moving image captured by the image sensor under illumination in a preview illumination mode before a trigger signal for activating the still image continuous capturing means is issued. 1. The skin observation apparatus according to 1. In the illumination mode switching means, in addition to the illumination course in which the lighting order of the three types of lighting modes, the preview lighting mode, the skin surface lighting mode, and the subcutaneous lighting mode, is set, the lighting order of any two types of lighting modes is set. The lighting course is registered,
The skin observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control device includes an illumination course selection unit that selects a desired illumination course from a plurality of types of illumination courses registered in the illumination order setting unit.

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